dire necessity for the sake of peace. Indeed, the late Mr. Hendrick
Potgeiter most devoutly believed himself to be the great peace-maker of
the country.

"But how is it that the natives, being so vastly superior in numbers to
the Boers, do not rise and annihilate them? The people among whom they
live are Bechuanas, not Kaffirs, though no one would ever learn that
distinction from a Boer; and history does not contain one single
instance in which the Bechuanas, even those of them who possess
firearms, have attacked either the Boers or the English. If there is
such an instance, I am certain it is not generally known, either beyond
or in the Cape Colony. They have defended themselves when attacked, as
in the case of Sechele, but have never engaged in offensive war with
Europeans. We have a very different tale to tell of the Kaffirs, and the
difference has always been so evident to these border Boers that, ever
since 'those magnificent savages,' (the Kaffirs,) obtained possession of
firearms, not one Boer has ever attempted to settle in Kaffirland, or
even face them as an enemy in the field. The Boers have generally
manifested a marked antipathy to anything but 'long-shot' warfare, and,
sidling away in their emigrations towards the more effeminate Bechuanas,
they have left their quarrels with the Kaffirs to be settled by the
English, and their wars to be paid for by English gold.

"The Bechuanas at Kolobeng had the spectacle of various tribes enslaved
before their eyes;--the Bakatla, the Batlo'kua, the Bahukeng, the
Bamosetla, and two other tribes of Bechuanas, were all groaning under
the oppression of unrequited labour. This would not have been felt as so
great an evil, but that the young men of those tribes, anxious to obtain
cattle, the only means of rising to respectability and importance among
their own people, were in the habit of sallying forth, like our Irish
and Highland reapers, to procure work in the Cape Colony. After
labouring there three or four years, in building stone dykes and dams
for the Dutch farmers, they were well content if at the end of that time
they could return with as many cows. On presenting one to the chief,
they ranked as respectable men in the tribe ever afterwards. These
volunteers were highly esteemed among the Dutch, under the name of
Mantatees. They were paid at the rate of one shilling a day, and a large
loaf of bread among six of them. Numbers of them, who had formerly seen
me about t